In hosting a multimedia conference over a computer network such as the Internet, the conference host advertises and promotes the conference as to the subject matter of the conference and the time and location of the conference. Parties interested in participating in the conference join the conference via their network connections at the designated time.
The traditional paradigm of an on-line conference, referring to FIG. 1, consists of a host server 10 connecting a number of conference participants or clients 12a-12c through their respective individual channels 14a-14c. This is a client/server paradigm where the host server 10 connects the clients 12a-12c. Under this paradigm, a great deal of computing resources are consumed by the host server 10.
The traditional paradigm is no longer adequate in meeting the dynamic and flexible environment demanded by the activity of the network users of today and of the future. Ideally, given the level of activity on the Internet, a different paradigm, referring to FIG. 2, is desirable. In this peer-to-peer paradigm, there is no host server, and a number of clients 18a-18e are connected via a number of channels 20a-20e in a variety of manners. The advantage with this paradigm is that there is not a central host server to connect the clients 18a-18e. As long as the clients 18a-18e utilize application programs allowing communication across networks between the clients 18a-18e, this network paradigm is feasible and desirable.
During use of either of the foregoing paradigms, the conference is started, for example as follows: One of the participants in the conference, for example, the sponsor of the conference contacts a client with reference, for example, to a conference schedule table so as to establish the necessary communication circuit between them. Thus, the multimedia conference is started. Once the conference has started, the sponsor of the conference may contact other remote clients with reference to the conference schedule table, so as to establish the necessary communication circuits among them.
Once started, a problem may arise when a user at one of the clients must move from his or her client device. This may occur, for example, if the user has to begin to move to another scheduled meeting, or address another situation before the present conference is over. Unfortunately, the conferences are often held on clients that include desktop computers or workstations which feature many multimedia capabilities, but which lack mobility. In such case, the client must often prematurely terminate the conference.
There is thus a need for a system capable of allowing a user to seamlessly transfer between different multimedia media during a conference.